The use of trash pickers of the type having two telescopic rods with spikes attached to the end of one rod and a stripping plate attached to corresponding end of the other rod, are old and well known in the art. The U.S. Pat. No. 2,695.188, to Klausman et al., discloses such a trash picker, wherein a plurality of spikes are secured to a plate which in turn is secured to the end of a hollow, tubular rod. A stripper plate is disposed parallel to the spike mounting plate and is provided with a plurality of apertures through which the spikes extend. The stripper plate is secured to the end of a rod which is telescopically received within the hollow, tubular rod and a spring is provided for normally biasing the stripper plate into engagement with the spike supporting plate. A transverse pin extends through the rod connected to the stripper plate and extends through an elongated slot in the hollow, tubular rod. The pin is connected to a sleeve which is externally slidable on the hollow, tubular rod so that upon movement of the sleeve relative to the rod, the stripper plate can move the length of the spike to remove any trash impaled upon the spikes.
Roller mops are also old and well known, wherein a pair of rollers are mounted in spaced, parallel relation to each other on the end of a hollow, tubular rod. An elongated bar having a sponge attached thereto is disposed between the rollers and is connected to a second rod which is telescopically received within the hollow, tubular rod so that upon reciprocating movement of the two rods relative to each other, the sponge can be pulled between the rollers for the purpose of squeezing water from the sponge. The U.S. Pat. No. 4,333,198, to Vosbikian, discloses such a roller-sponge mop, the drawings of which are presented as FIGS. 1-4 of the present application.
FIGS. 1 and 2 of the present application disclose a sponge mop generally designated 10 which comprises a hollow, cylindrical, elongate body 12 at the bottom of which is connected a sponge squeezing assembly comprising an arched bridge 14, means for holding rollers in parallel spaced relation at right angles to the axis of the body, and a plurality of rollers. The body 12 terminates upwardly in a grip portion 44 to facilitate axially operation of the device. The bridge 14 includes a plurality of depending legs 16 which secure the roller shafts 18 and 20 below the body equidistantly from the axis of the body 12. The shafts 18 and 20 are outwardly equally spaced from the axis of the body 12 to secure the rollers in spaced relation from the body axis below the lower end of the body. A plurality of rollers 20 and 22 are rotatably mounted on the shafts 18 and 24.
A handle 26 is reciprocal within the interior of the body 12 and extends upwardly therefrom as best seen in FIG. 1. A sponge assembly connector in the form of a threaded stud 28 projects from the bottom of a plug 30 which is secured in the lower end of the handle 26. The replaceable sponge assembly in the form of a sponge 32 gripped by an elongated carrier 34 is threaded on the stud 28 thereby detachably connecting the sponge assembly to the handle.
The normal operating position of the sponge is shown in FIG. 3, wherein the sponge carrier 34 is located between the rollers 22 and 24. Upon pulling the handle 26 upwardly as viewed in FIG. 4, relative to the body 12, the sponge 32 is pulled upwardly between the rollers 22 and 24 to squeeze the excess water from the sponge.
Applicant's copending application, Ser. No. 102,167 filed Sept. 29, 1987, now U.S. Pat. No. 4,856,835, discloses a number of attachments for the conventional squeeze mop to convert the conventional squeeze mop into a litter picker device. The present application discloses two additional forms of litter picking devices based on the construction of the roller-sponge mop of the type disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,333,198.